Cobb boasts about 2013 team after loss in D-7 district final; Madison rolls into regionals

Coach Sean Cobb and quarterback Brendan McMahon talk things over during a game earlier this season. Foley ended the year with a 7-4 record after falling in a D-7 district final.

Photo by Donna Agusti

MADISON HEIGHTS — He saw the talent and potential in a team he figured would do pretty well in 2013.

As Sean Cobb put it, he expected his Madison Heights Bishop Foley football team to be able “to compete every time they took the field.”

“They exceeded that expectation,” Cobb boasted. “They did so much more than just compete. This was a group of fierce competitors. They went out and learned how to win.”

Foley won three straight to begin the season, stumbled in consecutive weeks, and then won three of its final four to finish with a 6-3 record and the first trip to the playoffs since 2010.

The Ventures’ opponent, though, was a Royal Oak Shrine team that had already claimed a 13-6 victory in their September battle.

That game mattered little to Foley, which went out and pounded the Knights by a 42-10 count, earning a spot in a Division 7 district final against Southfield Christian.

“It was the type of game we expected,” Cobb said of what turned into a 28-24 loss in the district final. “We went in with some concerns about their running back (Bobby Banks). We knew he’d be hard to stop, and he was. … I think that was the difference.”

Foley led 10-7 at halftime and then watched as the teams traded the lead in the second half.

But Banks capped an 80-yard drive for the Eagles with less than two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter in what proved to be the decisive score.

“Nothing to hang our heads about,” Cobb said of the game, the season and a 7-4 final record. “It’s tough to lose when the score comes that late, but we were pretty confident we’d score one more time. It just didn’t happen that way.”

Foley is set to graduate 13 seniors and could bring back as many as 20 varsity veterans, many of whom will be sophomores and juniors.

“We’re going to be young next year, and it’s going to be a process of building,” Cobb said. “At the same time, a lot of these young kids that will be back and understand what it’s like to play in the playoffs. They had a taste of it this year, and that’s only going to help.”

Rolling at press time

In the Division 6 bracket, Madison Heights Madison kept its season rolling with a 27-20 victory against Flint Beecher in a district final.

The Eagles, 11-0 after the victory, traveled to play at Montrose Hill-McCloy (11-0) in a Nov. 15 regional final played after press time.